Walkers affirms law course sponsorship

Sixteen students have completed the Advanced-Subsidiary level law course offered at St. Ignatius High School since Walkers law firm began sponsoring the programme in 2006.

Walkers has reaffirmed its commitment to providing educational opportunities in the study of law to Caymanian students by again sponsoring the AS and full A-Level Law courses for the 2009 school year at St. Ignatius Catholic School.

The course is open to students who are registered as Sixth Form students at St. Ignatius and Cayman Prep School, having graduated with a minimum of seven or more higher grade passes at IGCSE or CXC. The tuition is provided by lecturers from the Cayman Islands Law School.

In addition to providing sponsorship money which helps St. Ignatius meet the cost of providing tuition and textbooks, partners from Walkers deliver lectures on life in the legal profession, as well as offering assistance on the delivery of certain aspects of the courses.

Each year the firm also presents the Walkers Prize to the best law student at St. Ignatius and the recipient of this year’s prize is Sarah Dombowsky.

The partnership between Walkers, St. Ignatius and the Cayman Islands Law School has given local students the opportunity to embark on this challenging and interesting programme of study and help them decide if their future career ambitions lie in this direction.

The A-Level and AS-Level Law courses are offered exclusively by St. Ignatius Catholic School, which is running the AS-Level course for the fourth year next year, having introduced the full A-Level programme last year.

‘St. Ignatius is committed to providing a first rate curriculum for students in Cayman and our AS and A Level Law courses have been very well received,’ said Peter Embleton, Head of Secondary at St. Ignatius. ‘We are extremely grateful to both Walkers and the Cayman Islands Law School for their support of the programmes.’

As well as giving students a good grounding in the subject area, the Law programmes help students appreciate what is involved in the study of law including the required reading, acceptable standards of written work and the ability to form and concisely articulate arguments and points of view. By undertaking the A-Level or AS-Level in Law, students going on to study the subject at undergraduate level will therefore enjoy a significant advantage, having already been introduced to some of the key concepts.

But, as Mr. Embleton pointed out at the programme’s inception, even if students do not continue to study law, they can benefit immensely from its discipline.

The programme and Walkers’ sponsorship also enjoys the support of the Government. ‘This partnership between St. Ignatius Catholic School, the Cayman Islands Law School and Walkers greatly benefits students that may be thinking of pursuing law as a career,” commented Rolston Anglin, Minister of Education, Training and Employment.

‘I am delighted that Walkers has opted to maintain this relationship and thank them for taking the initiative to become involved in such a worthwhile undertaking,’ he said. ‘I am pleased to report that since the inception of this course, 16 students have completed the AS Law course and two students are currently pursuing the A2 Law and I look forward to these numbers continuing to increase in the future.’

Law school Director of Legal Studies Mitchell Davies saluted Alan Sprince and Matthew Rollinson, the lecturers who worked so ably with students over the past three years. This year Mr. Sprince will be joined by lecturers Deborah Barker, Rhian Minty and Andrew Woodcock.

According to Walkers partner Richard Addlestone, who heads the firm’s Training Committee, the law programmes benefit the community in Cayman in a number of ways.

‘In addition to providing a greater range of opportunities for Caymanian students, we believe that the study programmes improve educational standards for school leavers and contributes towards a work force with a more diverse and wider range of skills,’ he said.

Mr. Addlestone noted that Walkers has sponsored Caymanian students and trained Caymanian attorneys for over a quarter of a century. ‘The sponsorship of the A-level course at St Ignatius is an extension of the firm’s commitment to the education of Caymanians.’

Inquiries about the A-Level or AS-Level law courses may be directed to St. Ignatius School